From The Stars
by talder
Summary: A response to whitetigerwolf's Adopted Alien Challenge. Harry has always known he was different. Growing up with his aunt and uncle, he can only remember a handful of memories of the first year of his life. Finding out he's a wizard wasn't such a surprise considering that, but if only they knew the other secret he has.
1. Visitors

This is a response to a challenge set by whitetigerwolf, the details of which can be found below:

Premise: _While in a remote area, James and Lily Potter witness a strange crash and investigate. Within the craft they find a dead/dying alien life form and its child. They then adopt the child to raise as their own, using magic to disguise it as human._

**Requirements:**

The alien child Lily and James adopt CANNOT pass for a human naturally in appearance (this means there must be at least one detail that must be covered up. Example: the child is Vulcan, Lily and James use magic to make the ears APPEAR more rounded)

_**Harry is an Eldar in this story, their main feature being long pointed ears (when I say long I mean maybe one size smaller that a House Elf's)**_

The child must be Harry (If male) or FemHarry, in other words the Boy (girl if you do FemHarry)-Who-Lived

_**Harry is male in this story, just to keep things normal-ish**_

While Lily and James can have their own children, no wrong-boy-who-lived

_**Harry is an only child (James and Lily unwilling to try again after a failed attempt (note, this child **__**would**__** have been Harry))**_

While lily and James can blood adopt the alien (probably necessary to allow the child magic, unless it's from Star Wars or somewhere else with 'magic') the alien must remain primarily alien

_**Blood adoption is being used to hide Harry's ears and to allow him to do 'normal' magic in addition to those available to Eldar psykers**_

Harry (the alien child) cannot be in a m/m relationship

_**Happy to do this one, as I find it hard to read stories involving this (no offence, just a personal preference)**_

Lily and James must keep/be given something so that Harry knows his alien cultures heritage

_**Harry will be inheriting his mother's Soul Stone**_

**Recommended:**

Klingon Harry

Twi'lek Harry

Wookie Harry (Blood adoption may enable Harry to speak normally)

Tamaranean Harry

FemHarry

FemSlash

James and Lily survive Voldemort's attack

If James and Lily are killed, Harry placed under a long-term glamour that hides his inhuman nature until a certain age

_**Pretty much ignoring all above (other race, not wanting to try a FemHarry at the moment and sticking, mostly, to canon to begin with)**_

Harry's biological mother being pregnant when crashing and surviving under Lily and James' care long enough to teach the, her culture before giving birth and dying either during or shortly afterwards.

_**His mum will explain the purpose of the Soul Stone, which will be written down for Harry. **_

**Disclaimer:** The characters and world of Harry Potter belong to J. K. Rowling , and the Eldar and the 40k universe belong to Games Workshop. I am neither.

**Chapter 1: Visitors**

James sat still, staring into the fireplace in the home he and his wife had been hiding in, at the insistence of Albus Dumbledore, a matter of weeks ago, contemplating the events of the last week.

It was supposed to be a joyous occasion, he and Lily we're going to have a baby! Only that had been taken away from them, their little boy not surviving birth. They hadn't told anyone yet, they couldn't bring themselves to. Everyone in the Order had been excited about their baby, and Frank and Alice were looking forward to having a friend for their newborn as well. Neither he nor Lily could bring themselves to take that away from them, not yet.

Suddenly, James heard a low crackling from outside swiftly followed by a dull thud. Dashing to the door to the small backyard, he found Lily already pointing her wand out the open door at what appeared to be a strange, white rock the size of a muggle car. Slowly walking over to it with his wand drawn, he was shocked when a section of it suddenly disappeared and a figure stumbled out.

Before he had time to point his wand at the figure, it collapsed to the ground, protecting a bundle clutched to its chest as it landed. A short curse James couldn't understand met his ears as the figure, which he guessed was female from the sound of its voice, struggled to sit up. Stepping forward, James acted on an impulse.

"Excuse me? Are you ok there?"

The figures head shot up, a hood sliding back to reveal a young women with piercing blue eyes and an expression that reminded him of his old Transfiguration professor. Her scarlet hair hid most of her face, appearing to have fallen over it during her fall.

She slowly took in her surroundings, noticing him properly for the first time, and no doubt Lily as well. Seemingly satisfied, she looked back at him, her eyes briefly lighting up a pale blue before she spoke.

"I am sorry to have worried you. I did not have many choices of landing sites. My name is Shasaya, and you two would be James and Lily Potter, correct?"

"Yes we would." James spluttered. "How did you know? Did HE send you?"

James and Lily's wands, which had been relaxing at the lack of threats had suddenly jumped up to point at Shasaya again.

"No, HE did not. I am sorry, but I read your mind in order to learn your tongue in the little time I have left. I am here, not for my sake, I am already beyond saving be any of the means either of us has, but for me son. He was born only hours ago, and I would request you to look after him, physically, for me."

"I'm sorry we jumped to conclusions then." Lily replied softly, wand lowering again. "When you say look after your son physically, what exactly do you mean? And may we know his name?"

Shasaya seemed to smile at Lily's words, before bringing a little boy out from the blanket he was wrapper in.

"I say physically as I will soon pass on into my Spirit Stone when I die, and he will be able to talk to me in time so I may teach him." She replied, smiling down at her son. "And I have yet to name him. As I said, he is only a few hours old and for all intent and purpose he will no longer be mine." Looking up at Lily she gave a sad smile. "He will be raised as you son, and I will not be able to speak to him for many years. I would ask you to name him, should you take him. I only ask that he be able to appear human."

James saw her hair move as she looked back down at her son, and saw a pointed ear that reminded him strongly of a House-Elf's, and he could make out a similar pair on her child.

"You would trust you son to a pair of strangers you just met?" James asked softly, slowly walking over to Shasaya where Lily joined him.

"I have little choice. In a matter of minutes I will be dead, and he will need a home. And you forget: I saw your mind, both of yours. I know I can trust you with him." Shasaya gave a shuddering cough before fishing a dull purple and blue stone out of her pocket. Examining it a little closer, James saw dozens of what he assumed were runes littered across the surface of the stone. "My Soul Stone. I would like you to keep it till he turns five or six so he is able to talk to me."

Looking at Lily, James just knew that they would be taking the child in and adopting him as their own. Smiling at Lily he bent down next to Shasaya and gently placed his hands around the child.

"We would be honoured to look after you son. I promise you, we will do everything we can to give him a good life." He vowed.

"I must thank you for this. I will do my best to help you through my Soul Stone if I can, but I believe you will be on your own." She drew a sharp breath at some pain before hurriedly asking a final question. "What will you call him?"

"What we we're going to call our own son." Lily replied, joining James as they took the adopted child into their arms. "Harry James Potter."

Shasaya smiled at them, before briefly waving at the remains of her capsule causing it to suddenly disappear from view.

"A fine name. Good luck Harry Potter. May we talk again in better times."

Shasaya took a final look at the new family, before allowing her soul to pass into her Soul Stone, lighting it up with a pale glow, leaving her body to rapidly fade into nothingness, shocking both of the older Potters.

: A fine name indeed. :

The next morning saw James and Lily taking a trip into Diagon Alley. Lily to buy what they hadn't already prepared for, baby-wise, like food, diapers and appropriate clothing, while James ventured into Gringotts to officially adopt Harry. He also planned on under taking a blood adoption so that for all intents and purposes, Harry would appear to be his and Lily's natural son, and hopefully allow the child to perform magic as well.

Both the paper work for the adoption and the additional bits he had to file for the blood adoption were done in a matter of minutes, James labelling his friend Sirius Black as god-father, and putting down Alice Longbottom as god-mother by Lily's request.

The actual process for the blood adoption was also remarkably fast, the goblins using a pair of self-fitting bracelets imbued with goblin magic for the ritual itself. What both James and Lily had forgot to think of, and that became abundantly clear as the ritual was under way, was that blood adoption rituals were known to change the appearance of those being adopted to varying degrees. Harry's striking blue eyes slowly changed to mirror Lily's emerald ones, while his hair changed from the brilliant red into a shade of black similar to James, and much like James, immediately got out of control and stuck up absolutely everywhere.

Though he and Lily would later find Harry crawling around the house with his hair acting like multi coloured ink: rapidly changing from one colour to another. Whether it was something Harry and Shasaya were both able to do, or if either James or Lily had transferred the rare Metamorphmagus ability onto him they would never know.

Getting back to Godric's Hollow and setting Harry up in the cradle in his new room, James and Lily set about informing their friends and family of Harry's 'birth'.

"Hey Sirius! Guess what? Lily and I are parents!" James' words to his school friend got them both excited, Sirius appearing to bounce up and down in the Floo call. "And Lily and I agreed that you should be god-father." He said much more seriously, which made Sirius pause for several seconds before asking to come over immediately.

"Not yet, soon. We have to call a few other people, and then I plan on making Lily get some rest. It was a stressful day." While James didn't like lying to his friend, explaining the whole situation behind Harry's 'birth' would be too confusing, and James didn't want it to get out by accident. No, only he and Lily would know, and, in time, so would Harry.

"Alright Prongs, alright. I'll wait till tomorrow and come by sometime with Mooney and Wormtail. I'll let you call 'em before I gather them up and go out celebrating. And you won't regret making me god-father. I'll act mature and everything, at least until he's a little older and we get the Marauders together to teach him our ways." Sirius replied, suddenly going from almost over the top happy to dead calm for that last part.

"I know that Sirius, we both trust you to act serious in front of Harry." James replied smiling, closing the Floo call connection before Sirius was able to make his overused name pun.

The rest of the calls went in a similar manner, Alice staring at Lily for several minutes when she was told she was god-mother, Albus having a strange twinkle in his eye, despite the Floo using fire as a projective surface, while offering his congratulations and the Muggle phone call to Lily's sister ending in shouting and screaming from Petunia as was the norm.

Following all of their excitement for the day, both Lily and decided to turn in and deal with the visits from the few keyed into the Fidelius Charm the next day.

James and Lily were both worried. They had adopted Harry over a year ago now, and on his first birthday a few months ago, Dumbledore had decided to tell them that Voldemort was most likely actively hunting them or the Longbottom family in relation to a matter he couldn't discuss until such a time as it had been dealt with. Hence the entire Potter family entertaining itself on Halloween.

They found those worries well founded when they felt the Fidelius Charm and the other assorted wards protecting them from Voldemort and his Death Eaters collapsed in an instant and what were presumably anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards went up in their place.

Rushing to the front door with his wand drawn, James hoped that it was merely a group of Death Eaters. While dangerous, he knew he stood little to no chance against Voldemort himself. He was therefore distraught to discover Voldemort casually blowing apart the front door and striding in.

"Lily, it's him! I'll hold him off, just run!" James shouted to Lily, already putting his considerable Transfiguration skills to use creating a series of shields from furniture and pieces of the wall to place between himself and Voldemort.

"Such courage and false hope. You cannot stand in my path and live I'm afraid." Voldemort's surprisingly calm and refined voice drifted down the corridor to James mere moments before a burst of Fiendfyre turned his shields into ash, followed swiftly by, "Avada Kedavra."

With no time to react, the green jet of light sped down the corridor and killed James where he stood, his body falling to the floor.

Chuckling to himself, Voldemort slowly climbed to the second story where he could he the Muggle-born apparently barricading a door with furniture. Sighing to himself about the unnecessary work, he strode up to the door and blasted it open, before striding in and training his wand on the girl who stood between him and his goal.

"Stand aside, lest you wish to join your husband."

Voldemort could see the horror in her eyes as she heard that, though she seemed to steel herself before begging.

"Please, not Harry. Kill me but leave Harry to live."

"I'm afraid you stand between me and my goal. I will only offer you one last chance to step aside." Voldemort watched as she slowly turned back to the child, placing some kind of necklace on the child.

"I'm sorry Harry, remember that your parents love you." Turning back, Voldemort could see that see was refusing to move yet again.

"A pity, Severus asked me to spare you. Oh well. Avada Kedavra." Once again a green jet shot from his wand and once again his target fell to the floor dead. "And now, my dear child, I ensure my survival once again. Avada….Kedavra."

For a third and final time that night, the green jet of light that was conjured as the Killing Curse spend from him wand to his target. But instead of working as it had even moments ago, it suddenly disappeared mere inches from the child's skin. Frowning in confusion, Voldemort went to raise his wand to cast the spell on the child once more, noting the look if concentration on its face in passing, before a dome of energy suddenly exploded outwards, shredding his body and most of the house.

Being forced to assume a spirit form as his Horcruxs saved him from death, Voldemort fled the remains of the cottage, fearful that the child figure out he was still alive and attempt to end the prophecy much like he himself had mere moments ago.

Still sitting in his cradle, watching a cloud of smoke be blown away, Harry lay down to sleep, suddenly feeling tired. He would be woken again in a several hours in the arms of a huge man on a flying motorcycle only to fall asleep once more, later waking to his aunts screams outside of his new home in Surrey.


	2. Intervening Years and a New World

**Disclaimer:** The characters and world of Harry Potter belong to J. K. Rowling. The Eldar race and the 40k universe belong to Games Workshop. I am neither.

**Chapter 2: Intervening Years and a New World**

To say Harry's life at the Dursley's was pleasant would be looking at the wrong end of the scale. Harry was well aware of how his aunt and uncle looked after his cousin Dudley and how different it was from his own treatment.

Dudley was spoiled rotten. He was more than capable of conjuring up fake tears if he thought that they would get him anywhere (but only if he needed to), would throw tantrums for some of the strangest and stupidest of reasons and every notice given to his parents about his bullying tendencies was simply waved away.

Harry on the other hand, was treated little better than a slave. He was given a place to sleep (a cupboard under the stairs), was given slightly more the minimum required amounts of food and water he needed for a particular day, did basically all the house work, and any time Dudley got caught bullying him at home, not only did his aunt and uncle decide it wasn't Dudley's fault, they blamed him!

Thankfully, Harry was able to avoid his relatives for the most part as he got older, either by being at school or doing his chores during which they were all 'nice' enough not to annoy him. The first few years had been fairly normal, as far as he could remember. From the time he woke up till he turned seven, Harry had seemingly been treated as just another child. Of course, his seventh birthday (an event that wasn't exactly celebrated baring a single 'present') had been unusual.

It had started by him going to school as usual alongside Dudley, but for some reason he found himself getting angry at one of the teachers about something he couldn't even remember, and the next thing he knew, her hair was rapidly changing from red to blue and back again every few seconds. He, like many other kids, had found it absolutely hilarious. Of course, when his aunt had heard about it that afternoon when she picked Dudley and Harry up, had gone rigid, turned to regard Harry and refused to speak to anyone until she spoke to her husband at home.

While she spoke to his uncle about what had happened, Harry was entertaining Dudley after discovering he could change his hair like their teachers had. So, his aunt and uncle, walking in to talk to Harry or Dudley, or any number of other reasons, spotted this, froze and went very pale.

"Petunia, he's doing that freakish stuff." Vernon whispered to his wife. "Didn't we say we wouldn't tolerate that under our roof?"

Petunia nodded back stiffly. "Of course we did, I'll deal with it after Dudley leaves. We don't need to let it affect him too."

Grunting an agreement, Vernon managed to convince Dudley that TV was more entertaining than Harry, and the two went out into the lounge room. Petunia stoped Harry when he went to follow.

"I am only going to say it once. No freakishness in this household. None! So long as you live here we will not have you doing it." Here she paused and fixed Harry with a stern look. "There will be punishments for breaking this rule."

Seeing how serious his aunt was, Harry quickly nodded and changed his hair back to normal, already vowing to do it again later in his room or when he was in the bathroom.

As he turned to go outside at a gesture from his aunt, Harry's necklace let out a small pulse of light, thankfully hidden from Petunia. Accompanying the light, Harry heard a voice murmuring inside his head, and it was swiftly joined by another, slightly fainter voice that he recognised as his aunts.

Deciding not to ask lest he break the new rule already, Harry walked outside into the cool spring evening and lay down beneath the solitary tree in the Dursley's backyard. Noticing his aunt's voice slowly fade and completely disappear as he walked away, Harry decided to try and talk to the other voice.

"Hello? I can hear someone in my head, can you hear me?" Harry whispered his question to his necklace, correctly thinking that the light from before had something to do with the new voice.

: Hello! I can hear you, though you should just be able to talk to me with your mind by now. : The voice replied, sounding like a very excited woman.

: Oh ok. Is this working? : Harry mentally asked.

: Yes yes, you're doing fine! I take it you haven't done this before? : The voice replied.

: No I haven't. : Harry replied. : My names Harry, what's yours? :

: Hello Harry, I'm Shasaya! But, um, I'm also you mother…: The voice replied hesitatingly. : Had they told you yet? :

: Mum? : Harry asked, feeling confused. : And who was supposed to tell me what? :

: I'll take that as a no then. Yes, I am you biological mum, the one who gave birth to you. Lily, you adoptive mother, was supposed to have told you by now. : She sighed.

: You knew my family? Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon refuse to talk about them. : Harry replied.  
: And you're my real mum? :

: What do you mean your aun- Harry, do you mind if I have a look through your memories? Somethings happened since I, well, since I died. : Shasaya seemed to be very confused as she asked.

: Sure! : Harry replied cheerfully, before pausing as he though over the words again. : Err, what do you mean by died? :

: Oh, sorry! Neither you nor I am human. I'll explain the details later, but one of the things our race does is store our souls inside these little things called Soul Stones so we can pass on knowledge to new generations, amongst other things at least. Your memories seem to point to mine being on your necklace. : Shasaya replied. : When the two of us arrived here, I was close to death. I entrusted you to Lily and James Potter, and left my Soul Stone to be given to you when you turned five or six. I assumed they had given it to you so I tried to contact you today, I thought they had just put off giving it to you for a year or so. :

: Okay, if were not human, then what are we? : Harry was more than a little confused and shocked to learn that he wasn't human. : And is there anything else I should know? :

: Well, we are known as Eldar, a highly intelligent psychic race that once spanned the galaxy. And, seeing as James and Lily made preparations for you to do their magic when you grew up, I should probably tell you about that too…:

Harry spent the next few hours listening to his mum talking about what she had learned from her trip into James' mind about the wizarding world and everything a child his age should have known about Eldar customs, history and so on. They were only interrupted when Harry was called inside to make dinner, though the conversation started backup that night. Having heard the voices of his aunt, uncle and cousin in his head during dinner, Harry asked his mother if she knew about that.

: Oh yes, that's one of the first signs you will get to show that you psychic potential is developing. Most races that may have the ability to have a psyker every few generations have to organize their minds in order to focus their power properly. We Eldar, being completely psychic, are born with our mind already organized. : Shasaya said. : Now, what you are hearing is the surface thoughts of those near you. I'll help you so you don't constantly invade everybody's privacy unless you want to, which I forbid until you are older! :

: I can read people's minds? : Harry asked is awe. : That's so cool! :

: Give it some time and you will be able to do more than that. Reading minds and communicating mentally are pretty basic, moving objects, summoning fire or lightning and far too many other things are possible when you get older and have a better grip on your ability. : Shasaya lectured. : I will warn you that any visions you may have, dreams, etc, may be visions of the future. That is something else we can do. :

Harry was shocked into silence, unable to even respond at knowing what he could do.

The next morning saw Harry and Dudley being dropped off at school, not before Petunia gave a harsh glare to Harry as a reminder of the new rule. Up until lunch, school was fairly normal. Harry managed to avoid Dudley by hiding out in the library pretending to read a book during recess. He was actually talking to his mum some more, this time about his hair changing ability which neither of them knew anything about.

Unfortunately for Harry, his lunch wasn't quite as peaceful, as Dudley and his group decided to chase Harry before he had a chance to hideout in the library. The chase ended a few seconds after it started as Harry found himself sitting atop the library roof after wishing he was in the library instead of being chased. The day got worse as he was punished by the school for climbing on the roof, and Vernon and Petunia locking him in his new 'room' when he got home for breaking the new rule.

Sitting in the cupboard under the stairs, Harry had asked his mum if she knew what had happened.

: Not exactly. : She replied. : I have a few vague references in James' memories of suddenly disappearing and reappearing somewhere else, but I didn't delve too deep into his memories. I was only trying to work out if I could trust him and Lily. There are a few scenes of another child doing the same thing that you can do with your hair, but I didn't get anything that would explain how it happens. :

: So what do I do now? : Harry asked.

: I don't think there is much you can do, not yet at least. James' memories seem to suggest a magical school that accepts students when they turn eleven. Someone will bring you into the wizarding world then. Then we find out everything we can about the wizarding world and decide which we like more. : Shasaya replied. : Until then, study hard and learn what you can about the normal world. :

And so, for the next few years at least, Harry's life continued in a similar vein. Learn everything he could at school, learn about the Eldar race from his mum and spend whatever time he could get away with in the library researching everything and anything. The rest of his time was spent doing chores or being locked in his cupboard for breaking the rule about no magic, not that he told his aunt or uncle he knew what it actually was.

Things finally began to change on his eleventh birthday. As he was collecting the morning mail, Harry found a letter addressed to him, strangely void of any stamp.

_Mr. H Potter  
The Cupboard under the Stairs  
4 Privet Drive  
Little Whinging  
Surrey_

Turning it over, Harry found a wax seal emblazoned with what appeared to be an emblem of four different animals. Hiding it away until later, knowing the Dursley's response to him getting a letter probably being horrible, Harry gave the rest of the mail to his uncle before heading out into the backyard and opening the letter, reading it out to himself and Shasaya.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL __of__ WITCHCRAFT __and__ WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Mr. Potter, _

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. _

_Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July. _

_Yours sincerely,  
Minerva McGonagall  
Deputy Headmistress _

Having read the first page, and wondering about the owl comment, Harry looked at the second page that seemed to be his uniform and equipment.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL __of __WITCHCRAFT __and__ WIZARDRY_

_UNIFORM _

_First-year students will require: _

_1\. Three sets of plain work robes (black)_

_2\. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_

_3\. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

_4\. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings) _

_Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags. _

_COURSE BOOKS _

_All students should have a copy of each of the following: _

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_

_by Miranda Goshawk _

_A History of Magic_

_by Bathilda Bagshot_

_Magical Theory _

_by Adalbert Waffling_

_A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_

_by Emeric Switch_

_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_

_by Phyllida Spore_

_Magical Drafts and Potions_

_by Arsenius Jigger_

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_

_by Newt Scamander_

_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_

_by Quentin Trimble_

_OTHER EQUIPMENT _

_1 wand_

_1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_

_1 set glass or crystal phials_

_1 telescope_

_1 set brass scales_

_Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad. _

_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS_

_ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK_

_Yours sincerely,  
Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus  
Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions_

Harry was abruptly stopped from going back over the list by an owl deciding to land alongside him. Realizing that he was supposed to reply, by today in fact, he quickly got a pen and a piece of paper from in the house and swiftly wrote a response.

_Dear Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall _

_I would like to thank you for the offer to attend you school, and to accept it._

_However, I require assistance in order to collect my school supplies and for directions to the school._

_Please write back about when you or one of the teachers will be able to assist me, or have them come directly to me for the outing._

_Sincerely,_

_Harry Potter._

Happy with his reply, Harry tucked his response into the envelop his letter had come in, quickly wrote in the Deputy Headmistress's name and Hogwarts before tying it to the owl with the straps on its leg before it took off.

He knew now that it was only a matter of time until someone came to help him out.

**A/N: The two sections detailing Harry's Hogwarts letter were taken from the works of J. K. Rowling**


	3. Diagon Alley

**Disclaimer:** The characters and world of Harry Potter belong to J. K. Rowling. The Eldar race and the 40k universe belong to Games Workshop. I am neither.

**Chapter 3: Diagon Alley**

Following breakfast the next morning, Harry's conversation with his mother about their plans for getting information on the wizarding world was cut short when Petunia called him back into the house. He was greeted by his aunt's stern glare, before she gestured for him to go into the living room.

"Good morning Mr. Potter. I am Professor McGonagall, I here today to get you sorted for school." The woman that was waiting for him, identifying herself as the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, greeted him with a slight Scottish accent.

"Good morning Professor. Do you need me to get anything before we go?" Harry asked, already bubbling with excitement at learning about a new world.

"No, you will be fine. I have everything we need to sort you out." McGonagall replied, before turning to Petunia. "Mrs. Duresly, I expect that Potter and I shall be back late this afternoon, around four at the latest I should expect."

Petunia merely nodded before escorting both Harry and McGonagall out the door.

"Now, I don't expect that you have ever Apparated before?" McGonagall asked.

"Apparated? What's that?" Harry asked.

"Apparation is a form of magical transportation. It works in a similar way to teleporting." McGonagall replied, taking a hold of his arm. "You are able to bring along passengers when you Apparate, which is how I will get us into London."

Before Harry could reply, he felt a tugging sensation and the world went dark for a moment before he found himself standing next to McGonagall in an alleyway, the sound of what he assumed was London traffic reaching his ears.

"Huh, it wasn't like that last time." He commented, drawing McGonagall's attention immediately.

"Last time Potter?" She asked, beginning to lead him out onto the street.

"Yeah, I accidently did something similar at school and ended up on a roof." Harry replied. "I always wondered how I managed that."

"That is some fairly impressive accidental magic Potter, most children cause some rattles and occasionally summon objects to them."

"They do? I haven't done that. Though I did change a teacher's hair blue, I think anyway. And I can change mine. How normal is that?" Harry asked.

McGonagall stopped and looked him over very carefully.

"You aren't pulling my leg are you Potter?" She asked, before sighing when he shook his head. "Changing someone else's hair colour isn't too unusual, though I have never heard of someone accidentally Apparating, though no one may have ever needed to. Can you change anything else besides your hair colour?"

"I don't think so, I haven't really tried though." Harry replied, before focusing on turning his eyes blue.

"Well, considering your eyes just went blue, I would say you can." McGonagall sighed. "It would appear that you are a Metamorphmagus, a witch or wizard capable of altering their appearance at will. I have only ever met one other, and she graduated from Hogwarts a matter of weeks ago."

"Would I be able to meet her some time?" Harry asked as they started walking again. "She might be able to help me learn what I can do."

"I shall write to her when I return to Hogwarts. I believe she will be more than willing to meet you as I believe the two of you are cousins, though I don't know the exact relation." McGonagall replied. "Now, this is Charing Cross Road, and this here is the Leaky Cauldron. It acts as the meeting point between the Muggle world out here and the wizarding world beyond. May I ask you to change your hair colour and perhaps try to hide your scar? I doubt either of us would like to draw attention beyond what is necessary."

Nodding Harry fixed the location in his mind, before colouring his hair a deep red and colouring his scar so that it seemed to disappear into his skin. Nodding to McGonagall to show he was ready, they stepped into a dingy room full of witches and wizards. Following McGonagall into the one of the back rooms in confusion, Harry had his unasked question answered as McGonagall pulled out her wand.

"This is the entrance to Diagon Alley. This is where you will go before each school term to buy your school supplies for each year." McGonagall explained. "Watch carefully, you'll need to tap the bricks in the same order I do to open the archway."

Watching and committing the pattern to memory, Harry was blown away when the wall seemed to fold away to reveal the magical shopping district.

"Welcome, Mr. Potter, to Diagon Alley." McGonagall seemed to be smiling at his awestruck expression, but when he turned to look at her it suddenly vanished. "I'll be taking you to Gringotts first, it's the bank of the wizarding world. As it is run by goblins, I would ask that you be polite while we withdraw some money for you purchases today."

Nodding dumbly, Harry followed McGonagall towards the towering marble building emblazoned with a crest and the name Gringotts, taking in everything he could about the alley and passing it on to Shasaya. He could hear her making a list of all the places she was going to get him to investigate already.

Walking in through the doors, Harry barley noticing the goblin standing alongside them, Professor McGonagall and Harry found themselves in a small atrium with another set of doors barring them from the main room. Here Harry, now that the distractions of Diagon Alley were gone, was able to properly examine the room and its occupants. The first thing he noticed was the warring engraved onto the next set of doors.

_Enter, stranger, but take heed_  
_Of what awaits the sin of greed,_  
_For those who take, but do not earn,_  
_Must pay most dearly in their turn._  
_So if you seek beneath our floors_  
_A treasure that was never yours,_  
_Thief, you have been warned, beware_  
_Of finding more than treasure there._

The goblin standing off to the side of the doors gave Harry a strange look when Harry turned to study him. While he could only make out a little due to the goblin wearing some form of armour, Harry could see that goblins were shorter than adults by at least half, had what looked to be fairly viscous pointed teeth and had elongated ears that ended in a point. Not quite as long as his should he appear as a proper Eldar, but long none the less.

Harry followed McGonagall into the next room and the two of them walked up to one of the free counters where a goblin was passing the time weighing gemstones.

"Excuse me teller, I am here escorting one Harry Potter to make a withdrawal from his trust account for his school purchases." McGonagall politely addressed the goblin behind the counter, reaching into her pocket and retrieving a small brass key. "I have his key here."

Taking the key into his hand, the goblin examined it carefully before turning back to Professor McGonagall.

"I must ask who you are and your role in escorting Mr. Potter here today." The goblin asked.

"Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. I am escorting Mr. Potter as he requested a member of staff for assistance as he has been removed from the wizarding world for a number of years." McGonagall replied.

Nodding, the teller gestured to another goblin to come over before handing the key back to McGonagall.

"This is Griphook, he will be taking you down to your trust vault. Please follow him now."

Nodding her thanks, McGonagall turned to follow Griphook, holding onto Harry to make sure he followed along. Going through a door, once again guarded by an armoured goblin, Griphook gestured to a mine cart before telling them to get in. They had barely set off down to Harry's vault before McGonagall had to pull Harry back into the cart, worried that he would fall out at a sudden bend.

"This is awesome!" Harry giggled, before turning to Griphook. "Can we go any faster?"

Griphook grinned at Harry before shaking his head. "One speed only." He replied, both he and Harry missing McGonagall's relieved sigh behind them.

Following the turns as they went deeper and deeper, Harry found himself noting the route they took down, his senses and brain coming together to remember each and every turn the cart made. Before long, the cart stopped and all three piled out and walked a short distance to a large rounded door.

"This is your trust vault Mr. Potter. I will require your key to open it." Griphook said, extending his hand to McGonagall.

Harry waited with baited breath as McGonagall handed the key over and Griphook opened the door.

"You may need some light." Griphook replied as the door swung open.

McGonagall muttered a quick "Lumos" and suddenly Harry could see the contents of his vault, which appeared to be several fairly large piles of gold coins. Looking to McGonagall for help, he asked how much he should take.

"Well, for you first year supplies, I would suggest around a hundred Galleons, though I believe you should take more just in case and to buy yourself a little extra should anything catch your fancy. Other years should only require a little over half that much unless you are replacing something you damaged during the year." McGonagall replied. "Now, the Galleons are the gold ones, the Sickles are the silver and the bronze ones are Knuts. Twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle and seventeen Sickles to a Galleon."

Nodding to himself, Harry took a small pouch resting just within the doorway and took a few handfuls worth of Galleons and put them into the pouch, which he was delighted to discover didn't become any heavier despite adding all the coins to it.

"Will that be all today?" Griphook asked as he closed up the vault.

"I believe so." McGonagall replied. "Is there something that requires Mr. Potter's attention while we are here?"

"No, I believe the Potter's account manager wishes to talk to him eventually, but it can wait for a few years yet." Griphook replied, unknowingly adding another task to Shasaya's list.

: We will be investigating that next time we're here. : She said to Harry.

: Sure mum. I'll make sure I do. : Harry replied, before leaning forwards in the cart as it took off up to the surface.

After they had made it back into the main Gringotts lobby, Harry and McGonagall thanked Griphook before heading out to do Harry's shopping.

"Professor, is there a way for me to come back here on my own if I need to?" Harry asked as McGonagall lead him up to a store called 'Olivander's' for his wand.

"There are several, though only three are possible for you." McGonagall replied. "Your aunt or uncle can bring you into London, you can catch a train in, or you can signal the Knight Bus."

"The Knight Bus?" Harry asked.

"The Knight Bus is an enchanted bus that transports witches and wizards around Britain. You signal it by raising your wand to point up while standing at a roadside. It would probably be your best choice."

Nodding to himself, Harry stepped into the store, only to jump back as an older man suddenly slid into view on a bookcase ladder.

"Ah, Mr. Potter. I've been expecting you." The man said, slowly climbing down the ladder and walking over to Harry with a tape measure in hand.

"Potter, this is Olivander, he's going to help you find a wand." McGonagall said as she followed Harry in.

"Yes, the wand choses the wizard. Which hand is your wand hand? Your right? Good good." Harry stood, right arm extended in front of him as Olivander's tape measure began measuring everything about Harry, from his arm length to the space between his eyes, while Olivander himself started rambling on about his parent's wands and started looking through a number of boxes on the nearby shelves.

"Right, give this a wave. Willow and dragon heartstring, thirteens and a half inches, springy." Olivander said, handing Harry the mentioned wand, only to take it back a moment later when one of the shelves collapsed in response to the wave. "No, definitely not. Try this, ash and unicorn hair. Ten inches, rigid."

Once again, Olivander wasn't satisfied, and Harry spend the next half an hour trying wand after wand, slowly destroying the store piece by piece.

"Well, I do have one more that might work." Olivander said, fetching a dusty box from a nearly empty shelf. "It's been here nearly fifty years, but if it doesn't work I may just have to make one especially for you. Here, holly and phoenix tail feather. Eleven inches, supple."

Taking the wand in hand, Harry could feel a rush of energy sweep through his body, chasing away the tiredness that had begun to creep in as he kept trying wands. He could have sworn he heard McGonagall mutter "about time" under her breath as she stood up and began to walk over.

"Curious, very curious." Olivander's voice drew both Harry and McGonagall's attention to him.

"Excuse me sir, what's curious." Harry asked, a feeling of dread washing over him.

"I find it curious that this wand should choose you, considering that its brother, a wand that shares a donor for its core, was responsible for the scar you hide." Olivander replied. "I'll leave the rest to you, Mr. Potter. That will be seven Galleons for the wand."

Like a switch had been flipped, Olivander went from 'creepy, mysterious old guy' to 'old store keeper', and Harry was more than happy to pay for the wand and leave as quickly as possible.

The rest of the day saw Harry slowly gathering the rest of his school supplies, including quills and ink and a few other supplies that weren't mentioned on the list, before McGonagall took him into Eeylops Owl Emporium as their last stop.

Harry was almost immediately attacked by a white snowy owl as he walked into the door. One of the stores staff came over and calmed it down before apologising to Harry.

"Sorry about that, this young girl seems pretty excited to meet you. What can I help you with today?" While McGonagall had only been showing Harry some of the different stores in Diagon Alley that they hadn't been in while looking for school supplies, Harry was determined to buy the owl.

"Well, we weren't planning on buying anything, but from the look on his face, I'd say my charge plans on buying the snowy owl." McGonagall replied, smirking at Harry as he slowly petted the owl that had snuck onto his shoulder. "How much for the young lass?"

"For her and all the care products, cage, etc? That'll be twenty Galleons." He replied.

McGonagall nodded before handing over the asked price. "If you would be so kind as to gather up the supplies."

Harry was still thanking McGonagall ten minutes later as she took him back out through the Leaky Cauldron in order to Apparate back to Privet Drive.

"Mr. Potter, there is no need to keep thanking me. I realize that this is probably one of the few presents you can remember receiving," McGonagall said with a frown, "but it is a late birthday present from me. And your new friend will be able to deliver mail for you so you can keep in touch with friends over the holidays, and with Ms. Tonks, the other Metamorphmagus, as well with any luck."

Muttering one last thanks as they stepped into muggle London, Harry shifted his features back to normal before McGonagall Apparated out of the same alley they had landed in. Walking back around the corner onto Privet Drive, Harry was quick to take his new purchases into his new room (Aunt Petunia had been quite insistent after hearing he got his Hogwarts letter) while McGonagall had a brief talk with his aunt and uncle.

He came back down in time to hear McGonagall saying her farewells.

"Ah, just in time mister Potter. I will be contacting Ms. Tonks as soon as I get back. I will see you at the start of term. Until then."

Harry waved goodbye, and after a rather quite dinner that night, finalised his plans with Shasaya to go back to Diagon Alley the next day.


	4. Extra Curricular Studies and Family

**Disclaimer:** The characters and world of Harry Potter belong to J. K. Rowling. The Eldar race and the 40k universe belong to Games Workshop. I am neither.

**Chapter 4: Extra Curricular Studies and Family**

The next morning saw Harry calling on the Knight Bus in order to get to Diagon Alley for a more intense exploration. Holding his wand up as McGonagall had instructed him, he was startled by a loud bang announcing the arrival of the bus.

Harry was barely able to take in the large, apparently triple decked, purple bus before the conductor stepped out the door.

"Morning, welcome to the Knight Bus, magical transportation for the stranded witch or wizard. Where can we get you to today?" The conductor asked.

"London." Harry replied. "As close as I can get to the Leaky Cauldron." Harry replied.

"We'll stop right outside. That will be eleven Sickles." The conductor gestured for Harry to board, sliding something, most likely the address, to the driver. "Might want to hold on to something."

Before he had a chance to ask why, Harry found himself being thrown about the bus as it lurched from side to side, weaving in and out of traffic as it sped across London.

"No one else on yet, so we should be there right about…. Now." With a flourish, the conductor gestured out a window as the bus came to a sudden stop, right outside the Leaky Cauldron.

"Thanks." Harry said, stepping off the bus and trying not to be sick.

"Until you need us again!" With another loud bang, the Knight Bus disappeared on its rounds and Harry quickly made his way into the Leaky Cauldron, hair changing to blue this time and his scar fading from view.

Harry had managed to find why his scar was so important last night when we has reading through his history texts and found the public story on Voldemort's apparent death. Though Harry did wonder how the authors knew what he looked like, let alone that everyone agreed on the events that lead to Voldemort dying despite Harry being the only one who could actually know and he didn't.

Regardless of that, Harry made his way through the Leaky Cauldron, out into Diagon Ally and finally into Gringotts for his first stop of the day. He easily found an open teller as the bank was fairly empty still.

"How may I help you on this fine morning?" The teller asked.

"I was told yesterday that the Potter account manager wanted to speak to me at some point. I'm here to see him if possible." Harry replied.

"I shall see, I'm not sure if Balgook is in yet." The teller said, swiftly writing and sending off some form of instructions. "If you wouldn't mind waiting here for a few minutes."

Minutes later, Harry was directed into through a door into a meeting room with another goblin waiting with a small stack of papers.

"Good morning Mr. Potter. I'm Balgook, the Potter account manager. As I'm sure you've heard, this isn't anything urgent, just things that should be sorted out." Balgook said.

"No problem. I wasn't sure and felt it best to deal with it now." Harry replied. "Shall we get started?"

"Excellent, first things first, I need to make sure that you are aware that the Potter trust account was setup to see you through your time at Hogwarts. As such, it holds roughly one thousand five hundred Galleons, less your withdrawal yesterday." Balgook said. "This amount ensures that, if needed, you can buy absolutely everything required each year at Hogwarts, including repairing or replacing clothes and equipment. There's a little extra as spending money as well."

Harry nodded to Balgook his understanding.

"Good, the other thing that I need to make you aware of is that you have a second trust account, currently standing at one thousand five hundred Galleons for you as a member of House Black. Looking into this, I discovered that the current Lord Black has named you his heir in his will. This in turn leads to Gringotts' deal with House Black, as with many other wizarding families, which means a trust vault will be opened for those of their family about to attend Hogwarts."

Here Harry blinked.

"You mean that someone I have never meet has named me as their heir?" Harry asked, bewildered.

"No, you would have met him. Sirius Black, your Godfather. And from what the Black account manager has told me, the will doesn't explicitly name you his heir, but he left anything not left to someone else to you." Balgook replied. "Personally, neither the Black account manager nor I think that Lord Black was aware that he holds the Black lordship."

"Does he know now?" Harry asked. "I would assume that you would have told him."

"Unfortunately for Lord Black, we are unable to inform him as he currently resides in Azkaban Prison." Balgook replied. "Though we have been unable to find how long he has been sentenced for."

"What did he do then?" Harry asked. "He's my Godfather, shouldn't he be looking after me?"

"Lord Black was sent to Azkaban for betraying you and your parents, leading to their deaths." Balgook replied, shocking Harry. "He is also responsible for the murder of one Peter Pettigrew alongside roughly a dozen Muggles."

"Would you be able to get me a copy of the trial script?" Harry asked slowly. "I want to know why he did it, good or bad I just want to know."

"That shouldn't be too hard." Balgook said. "Would you prefer that no one was made aware of this? Many people would wonder why you were looking into the trial."

"That would probably be a good idea." Harry agreed. "I would definitely prefer that only those who need to know are aware that I am making this request."

"I will see that it gets done Mr. Potter." Balgook replied. "I shall keep you updated by mail if I run into problems, but I expect to have the script to you by the first week of Hogwarts. That also finishes what I needed to see you about. I will need to see you around your fifteenth birthday so I can give you the necessary information to prepare you for claiming your Lordship when you come of age."

"Until then Mr. Balgook." Harry said, standing to leave.

"May your gold flow freely Mr. Potter." Balgook replied.

"Um, how am I meant to reply to that?" Harry asked awkwardly.

"Ah, sorry about that. You're meant to reply 'Let you enemies fall before you.' I have dealt with many generations of Potters, and they have all known that coming in, so I assumed you would too. My apologies." Balgook replied.

"I have only been in the wizarding world a day, so I have not yet had time to learn. May your enemies fall before you Mr. Balgook." Harry said.

Venturing out into Diagon Alley once more, Harry followed a list set by Shasaya and wandered through several shops, mostly just seeing what they sold and getting a sense for prices as Shasaya planned on comparing them to prices abroad in the coming years. The only stop Harry bought anything was his last stop at Flourish &amp; Blotts.

After getting an idea of the next few year's books and discovering the various elective subjects he could choose from for his third year, Harry went looking for some introductory books about each of the electives as well as some second year and other advanced books on the core subjects.

Skimming through the elective books, Harry immediately put down the Muggle Studies book, struggling not to laugh after seeing that it was a few decades behind what it was actually like. He also put down the Divination book, wondering if witches and wizards really could use such strange forms of foresight effectively.

: Don't worry about Divination too much yet. : Shasaya said. : I would prefer you to do it when you can just so you know how the wizarding world does things, but I believe that the visions and precognition afforded through your psychic abilities are much more effective. :

Harry was much happier reading about Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures, and was extremely interested in Ancient Runes. Arithmancy was all to do with spell matrixes, mostly used for creating new spells and occasionally modifying old ones, while Ancient Runes was concerned with learning to decipher old languages and, in the later years of schooling, setting up and identifying wards. Needless to say, having read a few of the examples of wards that the book gave, Harry added it to his pile, as well as a beginners book for Ancient Runes and a glossary for a large number of frequently used rune languages.

Deciding that he had enough to keep him occupied until he got to Hogwarts and could look for more books in the library if he got bored, Harry paid for his books and an enchanted bag that would allow him to easily carry his new purchases with little effort. He was even more set on learning Ancient Runes when he was told that enchantments partially fell under it.

Going back through the Leaky Cauldron and into Muggle London, Harry set off in search of a store where he could get some decent muggle clothes.

It only took him a few minutes to find a clothing store and half an hour more to find what he liked. Happy with all his purchases for the day, Harry walked back to the Leaky Cauldron and called on the Knight Bus, suffering through a much longer ride before he finally arrived back on Privet Drive.

Changing his hair back to normal after the bus disappeared, Harry quickly took his new books upstairs into his room and added them to his trunk before heading out to do his chores for the day.

That night, as Harry was reading through his years course books, an owl came swooping into his room before perching on the open door of his cupboard and presenting a letter to him. As soon as he'd taken the letter, the owl flew back out the window, leaving Harry to read again.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_I have been in touch with Ms. Tonks, your cousin who has the same ability that you do. She is willing, and very insistent, on meeting you as soon as possible. I will leave it to you to contact her in order to setup a meeting, though you should know that her Auror training starts on the 14__th __of August._

_Sincerely,  
Minerva McGonagall_

_P.S. Her name is Nymphadora Tonks, though I suggest you avoid using her first name where possible._

_P.P.S. I didn't tell her you were a Metamorphmagus, I thought you might like to surprise her with that._

Harry spent a second blinking at his cousin's name, silently offering his apologies to her for the name, before pulling out a piece of paper and writing to her.

_Dear Ms. N. Tonks,_

_As you no doubt have been informed by Professor McGonagall, I have recently re-entered the wizarding world. She was kind enough to inform me of our relation and I wish to meet with you whenever you are able. I currently have nothing that I have to do, so I am free to meet you any time._

_I am living at No. 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey._

_Please visit when you are able to._

_Sincerely,_

_Harry Potter._

Putting the letter into an envelope, writing Tonks' name across it and letting Hedwig fly off to deliver it, Harry went back to reading his books.

Hedwig returned an hour later with another letter attached to her leg.

_Harry,_

_I suck at formal letters so I'll make it short and sweet: I should be able to come say hello tomorrow afternoon. I'll see you then._

_Tonks_

Chuckling at the abruptness of Tonks' letter, Harry decided to turn in for the night.

The next morning saw Harry in a happy mood as he awaited Tonks' arrival, one made even happier by the fact that the Dursley's would be out for most of the day. So, after they left after breakfast to go to the zoo or wherever it was, Harry settled down with his Ancient Runes books and waited.

Any worries Harry might have had about not knowing when Tonks showed up vanished as he heard a thud from outside, followed by a woman cursing something from the Dursley's front yard. Walking over and opening the door, Harry was confronted by the sight of his cousin sprawled out by one of the sprinklers, looking sheepishly towards him as she realised he'd come outside.

"Wotcher." Tonks said. "Nice hair."

Harry barely suppressed a grin at that, he'd purposely coloured his hair a bright blue just to make sure his cousin noticed when it changed later.

"Same to you." Harry replied. "I don't think I've ever see anyone with pink hair that bright before."

Tonks let out a laugh as she hauled herself back to her feet.

"Well then, shall we go inside then?" Harry asked.

"Sure, anyone else in?" Tonks asked, following Harry inside.

"No, they went out for the day. Made it easier to spend some time with you." Harry replied, leading Tonks into the lounge room. "Take a seat."

"So." Tonks said after she'd sat down. "Apparently we're related. Do you know exactly how?"

"Through your mum and my grandma, they were both Blacks." Harry replied.

"Ah, the crazy people in the family, right. Makes sense then." Tonks replied, before both of them started chuckling to themselves.

"Are they really that bad?" Harry eventually managed to ask.

"The Black family was considered a Dark family, and they supported You-Know-Who. Plus, of the four remaining Blacks, half of them are supposed to be proper crazy." Tonks replied.

"Right, avoid most of the family then?" Harry joked.

"Yeah," Tonks said laughing. "Pretty much the best thing to do."

They were talking for a while before Tonks' hair suddenly turned a vibrant green. Pretending to have no idea what she was doing, Harry started playing his part.

"Wow, how did you do that?" He asked.

"Do what?" Tonks asked innocently.

"Your hair just changed colour!" Harry said, point at her hair as she rapidly shifted it through a few dozen colours. "It keeps changing!"

"I'm a Metamorphmagus." Tonks said proudly. "I can change any part of my body at will."

"Really?" Harry asked, bewildered. He knew he could change his hair and eyes, but to be able to change everything? "Can you teach me?"

Tonks' face suddenly went from proud to distressed almost immediately. "Oh, um, not really. It's not something you can learn." She said carefully. "You have to be born able to do it."

"Oh." Harry said. "I knew that."

And before Tonks could say anything else, he copied her trick from earlier and cycled his hair through a few dozen colours.

For several minutes, Tonks simply stared at him, mouth trying desperately to form words. Eventually, she managed to pull herself together.

"You're a Metamorphmagus?" She asked, still in shock.

"Yep." Harry nodded. "Surprised Professor McGonagall when I did it with her too."

Letting Tonks gather herself, Harry changed his hair back to normal, before turning to look at her again.

"So can you teach me?"


	5. To Hogwarts

**Disclaimer:** The characters and world of Harry Potter belong to J. K. Rowling. The Eldar race and the 40k universe belong to Games Workshop. I am neither.

**Chapter 5: To Hogwarts**

Harry had spent the rest of the afternoon learning everything he could from Tonks. By the time she had to leave, Harry had got the hang of changing his height and the length of his arms as well as other colour changes across his body and had promised Tonks to keep practicing when he could until she could see him again during the holidays as she invited him to spend Christmas with her.

Before she left, Tonks gave Harry one last piece of advice.

"One last thing, as cool as being a Metamorphmagus is, and as much as you might want to show off, don't." Tonks said, being serious for one of the few times that day. "I kept showing it off, and people were never interested in me, only what I could make myself look like. You're already going to have it bad enough 'cause you survived You-Know-Who, so don't add to it, ok?"

Harry merely nodded, understanding her worries. He gave her one last hug before waving to her as she left.

The rest of the month saw Harry reading through his school books as well as his extra purchases and practicing with both his Metamorphmagus abilities and his wand movements with a stick. By the end of August, Harry felt more than prepared for Hogwarts and the more serious psyker training Shasaya had promised him when he got there.

At dinner on the 31st, Harry's announcement that he would be going to school the next day and wouldn't be returning until June the next year was met at first by shocked silence, then swiftly followed by what Harry suspected was relief from the Dursley's.

The next morning saw Harry up early and carrying his trunk and Hedwig's cage out onto the curb where we raised his wand for the Knight Bus, having it appear in front of him with a loud bang moments later.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, where can I take you today?" The conductor asked, already stepping out to help Harry with his stuff.

"Kings Cross Station." Harry replied.

"That'll be ten Sickles." The conductor replied, stowing Harry's trunk under a seat.

Handing over his fare and sitting down, Harry waited for the Knight Bus to arrive at Kings Cross, watching as the bus slowly filled up with families who were probably heading to Hogwarts themselves. Harry drew several curious gazes, partly because he was the only child sitting on his own and because he had changed his hair to a brilliant red, and intended to keep it that way. The plan was to stick with the red hair, blue eyes and to hide his scar just to confuse everyone who'd read the description every author had used for him.

When the bus finally appeared outside the station, Harry joined the other families as they headed to the secret entrance to platform 9 ¾. While Professor McGonagall had explained where to go and what to do, it was much simpler to just follow everyone else as they wandered down the platform.

Walking through the illusionary wall that separated the Muggle and wizarding sides of the platform, Harry immediately boarded the train and stowed his trunk before sitting down and waiting. He didn't have to wait long, he'd barely read any more of his Ancient Runes book before the trains whistle blew and the train started moving a few seconds later.

He was interrupted a few moments later by a pair of girls, most likely twins going off their similar appearance, opened the door.

"Do you mind if we sit here?" One asked, her eyes briefly flickering to Harry's rather bright hair.

"No problem." Harry replied, gesturing to the seat across from him.

The twins sat down across from Harry, only for another girl to set in and sit down next to Harry closing the door behind her.

"Sorry, but I just need somewhere to sit for a few minutes." She said in way of greeting. "I don't want to talk to Malfoy."

"No problem." Harry replied, already turning back to his book.

"I'm Padma." One of the twins introduced herself. "And this is my sister Parvati."

"Nice to meet you." The other girl replied. "I'm Susan."

"Harry, it's nice to meet you all." Harry said, looking up from his book when he became aware that the girls had all turned to look at him.

"Harry Potter?" Parvati asked, not seeming too sure about her question.

"Yeah, that's me." Harry replied, trying not to laugh as the three girls realised that the description that the entire wizarding world had for him was 'wrong.'

"Really?" Susan asked, turning to look at him properly. "Not to be rude, but you don't look anything like how your described."

"Yeah, I thought the same thing when I read about my 'adventures'." Harry replied. "Don't believe most of what you've read, I only came back into the wizarding world a few months ago."

All three girls blinked at him and the twins shared a glance before Padma looked back at him.

"So, do you actually have a scar?" Padma asked.

"Yeah, I do." Harry replied. "Just not the one you're thinking of. There's no lightning bolt shaped scar that I've been able to find, let alone on my forehead."

Struggling not to laugh again as the girls nodded to his reply, their attention was snapped to the door as it was suddenly wrenched open to reveal a tall-ish red head, probably about their age.

"Can we help you?" Harry asked, putting his book away as he kept being interrupted every time he tried to read it.

"Nuh, looking for someone." The boy replied before slamming the door shut and walking off.

Harry blinked at the poor manners of the boy before turning to his cabin mates.

"Anyone know who that was?" Harry asked.

"No." Susan replied, all three girls shaking their heads. "We should be able to find out when we get sorted though."

At this, the twins started giggling to themselves, causing Harry to raise an eyebrow and Susan to send them a questionable glance.

"Sorry, we just plan on going into different houses." Padma said.

"And then swapping around whenever we feel like later on." Parvati finished, both girls going back to their giggling.

Before Harry could ask anything more about sorting, the cabin door rolled open to reveal two fairly bulky boys flanking a third one who shot a look at Susan before being distracted by Harry.

"I've heard that Harry Potter is one the train." He said, glancing at everyone in turn. "Have you seen him?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I haven't'." Harry replied, suppressing his grin, before noticing how Susan was trying to avoid looking at the boy. "Though I think I heard something about him being near the front of the train. May I ask who you are?"

"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." The boy replied. "This is Crabbe and Goyle. And from your red hair, I can only assume you're a Weasley."

"Ah, I was about to use a muggle quote about James Bond, but I think it might be wasted on you." Harry replied.

"Hmm, you Weasley's should be careful and respect you betters." Malfoy sneered. "Such a poor fami-"

Draco was suddenly cut short as a pair of wands were suddenly pointing at his head from the side.

"Now Fred, I was sure just heard someone bad mouthing our family." A voice said.

"Yes George, I could have sworn I heard the same thing." Another voice, presumably Fred, replied.

"Should we teach him a lesson?" George questioned, making Draco go suddenly pale.

"No twin of mine, I believe that he will be much more mindful of what he says about us now." Fred replied.

"Fair enough Forge." George replied, Harry swiftly fixing which was which in his mind, along with Padma and Parvati, so they couldn't try and confuse him later.

Draco and his two flunkies moved off down the train as Fred and George finally looked into the cabin, whatever they were planning to say dying on their lips as the took in Harry.

"You're not our little brother." Fred said. "No offence, but we thought that Malfoy was actually saying things to Ron. What's your name?"

"Yeah I think your brother came by looking for someone before." Susan replied.

"Ah, he's probably looking for Harry Potter. He has it in his mind that he will be his best friend." George replied.

Smiling, Harry gestured for them to step into the cabin, before pressing a finger to his lips.

"Don't go telling everyone, but I'm Harry." Harry said, smile widening as the Weasley twins faces morphed into ones of shock. "I was surprised to discover how different the descriptions of me are to how I look."

"Dammit George." George said. "Someone's pulling a prank on the entire wizarding world. We need to find out who it is!"

"Agreed Forge." Fred replied, turning to look at Harry. "We won't tell anyone, now if you and the ladies don't mind, we have to go see a friend about a tarantula."

With that the twins shut the door and left in search of their friend. Harry turned to look at his traveling companions.

"Well, that was interesting." He said.

Susan nodded. "I'm just glad that they distracted Malfoy from me. He's been annoying me every chance he got while I was waiting for the train to leave."

"He's a bit of a bully then. I'll keep that in mind." Harry said. "So, where do you think you'll end up being sorted?"

"Hufflepuff." Was Susan's immediate answer. "It's where my parents went, same for my aunty. And I don't really think I'm brave enough for Gryffindor, and I definitely can't be bothered to study enough for Ravenclaw. Slytherin is just a bad idea overall." She shuddered at whatever she thought happening if she went into Slytherin.

"Ravenclaw." Padma said, while Parvati replied with "Gryffindor."

"I like studying, and I'm the one who came up with the idea to be in different houses." Padma explained.

"And I'm the brave one who agreed to go for a different house." Parvati said. "Padma has the ideas, I'm usually the one who ends up doing the ones we get in trouble for."

"Huh." Harry said. "I don't actually know. I know I could probably end up anywhere, I don't really have one houses traits over another, but I definitely don't want to go into Slytherin, I don't want to find out what will happen."

The girls nodded before they all settled down, chatting and swapping stories about their cases of accidental magic.

They were interrupted several hours later by a boy and a girl opening the door.

"Have any of you seen a toad?" The boy asked shyly. "I lost him and I can't find him anywhere."

"No." Susan replied. "Sorry Neville. Who's your friend?"

"Hermione." The girl replied. "Who are you?"

"I'm Harry, this is Susan, Padma and Parvati." Harry said, pointing to everyone as he said their names, though he purposely pointed to the wrong twin for each name. "Where was the last place you saw you toad Neville?"

"Um, on the platform." Neville replied after a moment of concentration. "I tried to find him with gran before the train left."

"Uh, Neville. Your toad might still be in London then." Susan said. "I doubt he got onto the train."

Slumping against the door, Neville sighed. "Oh well, maybe he'll turn up still."

"You never know." Harry replied. "Do you want to sit down?"

"No thanks, I'm going to keep looking, just to make sure." Neville replied, straightening and heading down the train.

"I'll see you later?" Hermione seemed to ask as she turned to follow Neville.

Settling down again after Neville and Hermione had left, Harry and his new friends spent the remaining hours before the train stopped and they were asked to disembark simply talking. Stepping out onto the platform, Harry spent several seconds simply gazing at what parts of the station were visible in the light coming from a handful of lanterns scattered about.

Marvelling at some of the impossible things on the platform (arches were supposed to sit on pillars, not float above them), Harry's gaze swept over the hordes of students unloading onto the platform. Amongst the students was one incredibly large and hairy man with a lantern in his hand.

"First year's this way!" The man called out above the din of muttering students in a booming voice. "Firsts years over 'ere and follow me!"

Harry made his way over to the man, Susan and the twins following behind him. They found that most of the first years were gathered around the man, who seemed to be doing a head count.

"Just waitin on two more." He said, before Neville and Hermione both joined the gathering. "Alright then, just follow me."

As he went to follow along with everyone else, he noticed the red-head who'd barged into their cabin on the train, who Fred and George had called Ron, glancing around desperately, trying to find someone. Shrugging to himself, Harry followed the man, eventually finding himself at the shore of a lake.

"Right, no more than four to a boat." The man said, already clambering into a boat.

Within a matter of minutes, the first years had all clambered into boats, Harry finding himself with Susan, Neville and Hermione.

"Forwards." The man intoned after a brief glance for anyone left out, and just like that the boats silently slid into the water and glided across the lake. "Mind yer head up ahead."

Moving past a small outlet covered in trees, Harry got his first look at Hogwarts. Sitting atop a cliff that stood over the lake to one side and opening onto lush grounds on the others, Hogwarts Castle was a majestic sight. Harry was momentarily shocked when he noticed a brief golden glow appeared in the sky and flickering to the lake just in front of them, before he reasoned that it was probably just the castles wards.

The warning to mind their heads was heeded by most as they entered a small cave set at the bottom of the cliff, though from the sound behind them, someone hadn't listened and had fallen back into the boat. Harry was sure that the man who had collected them was muttering under his breath about Weasley's when he turned around to check on them, though he couldn't be certain.

It didn't take long for everyone to disembark and gather together at the base of the stairs where their escort made another head count then held out a toad.

"Whose is he?" He asked as Neville stepped forwards with a smile.

"Trevor! Knew I'd find you." Neville said, picking up his toad, before turning a little pink and stepping back into the group as everyone turned to look at him.

"Keep an eye on him." Their escort said with a smile. "Them toads have a habit of wanderin off. Right, follow me now."

The man led them up the stairs, did a final head count, and then turned and knocked on the large, rather grand, doors that would take them into the castle.

**A/N: While I have ideas for portions of the story pretty well set out or largely resolved in my mind, there are plenty of bits that I won't really think about too much until I get to them and as a result they are harder to write. This was the first of several that you'll have to wait around for me to write. Sorry about that.**

**On another note, feel free to give me ideas you'd like to see to help me out (I'll do my best to credit the ideas to who suggests them) and I definitely want some input into who you'd like to see Harry paired with. Leave any ideas and/or your preference for pairings as/or part of reviews and I will do my best to check them all out.**


	6. Sorting and First Class

**Disclaimer:** The characters and world of Harry Potter belong to J. K. Rowling , and the Eldar and the 40k universe belong to Games Workshop. I am neither.

**Chapter 6: Sorting and First Class**

* * *

Harry and his fellow first years only waited a few moments after the knock on the door before they swung open and Harry was greeted by Professor McGonagall gazing over the new students, pausing on him with a slight smile and a glance to his hair.

"First years Professor McGonagall." Their escort announced.

"Thank you Hagrid, you can go ahead now." McGonagall replied, gesturing into the hall behind her.

After Hagrid had left, McGonagall turned back to the first years.

"Allow me to welcome you all to Hogwarts. In a few minutes, you will be sorted into a house, be it Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. You will earn and lose points as the Professors deem appropriate for your actions, and at the end of the year the House Cup will be awarded to the house with the most points." McGonagall said. "You will be given your timetable tomorrow at breakfast. Each class you attend will usually have another house alongside your own. I will give you a few minutes to straighten yourselves out before the sorting."

With a pointed look at a few students who had cloaks fastened to strange places (Harry had no idea how Neville had it over his ear), McGonagall turned and walked back down the hall and through another pair of grand doors, the sound of several hundred voices briefly floating out to them.

No sooner had McGonagall left that a number of screams came from the back of the group. Spinning to face what he assumed was danger, Harry instead found a collection of over a dozen pale white ghosts drifting across the hall chatting.

"We really have to do something about him though, he's had too many chances and squandered them all." One of the ghosts said, before noticing the assembled students bellow them. "Oh look, the first years are here. Welcome to Hogwarts! Good luck with the sorting, I hope to see you in Hufflepuff shortly."

Several of the other ghosts also gave welcomes and mentioned the houses they were probably part of when they were students. They kept drifting across the hall before passing through into what Harry assumed was the Great Hall. McGonagall emerged moments later and lead them in.

Walking down the middle of the room, a table full of red and gold to one side and blue and bronze coloured robes to the other, Harry found himself, and most of the other first years, taking in the four long tables, the impressively enchanted celling, the teachers sitting at a shorter table ahead and the banners for each house hanging at the head of each table.

"Wicked." Came from Ron as he glanced around, and Harry couldn't help but agree with him.

As they lined up between the student tables and the teachers table, Harry noticed McGonagall bring a stool and a fairly worn looking hat out in front of them, setting the hat atop the stool in front of them before conjuring a scroll. Before anything else happened, the hat drew itself up and began to sing.

_"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty_  
_But don't judge on what you see,_  
_I'll eat myself if you can find_  
_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_  
_Your top hats sleek and tall,_  
_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_  
_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_  
_The Sorting Hat can't see,_  
_So try me on and I will tell you_  
_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong to Gryffindor,_  
_Where dwell the brave at heart,_  
_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_  
_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_  
_Where they are just and loyal,_  
_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_  
_and unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_  
_If you've a ready mind,_  
_Where those of wit and learning._  
_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_  
_You'll make your real friends,_  
_Those cunning fold use any means_  
_To achieve their ends._

_So Put me on! Don't be afraid!_  
_And don't get in a flap!_  
_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_  
_For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

The staff and students applauded the hat's performance, the hat making short, what Harry assumed were bows, to his audience, before McGonagall stepped forwards, unrolling the scroll in her hands.

"When I call your name, step forward and sit down, place the hat on your head and await a verdict." McGonagall explained. "When the hat declares a house, stand up and go to your house table. You'll know which is yours when the time comes. Now Abbot, Hannah."

Hannah timidly walked up to the stool, sitting down and putting the hat on her head. The Great Hall seemed to be silent for a few seconds before the hat made its decision.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Over to one side, the Hufflepuff table exploded into cheers as Hannah made her way over, the other houses clapping and a few of the louder students calling out congratulations.

"Bones, Susan." McGonagall called, and Susan walked over to the stool, and followed Hannah over to the Hufflepuff table moments later.

Harry didn't really pay too much attention to who went where, simply putting names to faces and listening out for people he knew. He figured he'd workout which house he ended up in and who else was with him when he was sorted.

"Granger, Hermione." McGonagall called and Harry decided to see where she went.

The sorting hat seemed to take longer than most before, finally: "Gryffindor!"

Harry had to suppress his laughter at how excited Hermione seemed after that, before going back to simple name to face again. He had a good chuckle at Neville when he forgot to take the hat off before heading off to Gryffindor, having to run back to hand the hat back to Professor McGonagall.

Draco Malfoy was quickly sent to Slytherin, and a few names later, Padma was called up and ended up in Ravenclaw as she had predicted. Parvati followed her up and was sent to Gryffindor just as quickly. A girl by the name of Pansy Parkinson went up next and got sorted into Slytherin, and then, finally, Harry was called up.

"Potter, Harry." McGonagall said, Harry making out the barest hint of a smile as he made his way up to the stool, the Great Hall suddenly coming alive with chatter as he walked up.

Sitting down to face the student population and donning the sorting hat, Harry could make out the extremely confused face of Ron in line waiting to be sorted, Hermione and Neville sharing similar looks of shock, and Draco had turned a very pale white.

: Ah, what an interesting mind you have here Mr Potter. : The voice of the sorting hat said within his mind. : Now, enough of that and onto houses. Hmmm, I do believe that you possess qualities of all four houses, though I must admit you seem fairly well predisposed to Slytherin base on your traits. :

: I'd prefer to avoid Slytherin. : Harry thought back, grinning at the hat's shock as he spoke mentally. : I doubt that, given the reason for my fame and that many in Slytherin are children of Death Eaters, I would be treated to well there. :

: I suppose you have a point there. : The sorting hat said after it had gathered itself back together. : Well, I see you as being equally balanced across the traits of the other houses, but seeing as you seem to enjoy a good prank, I'm thinking Gryffindor. I only ask two things when you go. :

: Oh? : Harry wondered. : What do are they then? :

: First, join the Weasley twins and cause some havoc on occasion. : The hat replied, and Harry could have sworn it was grinning. : The castle needs some form of disturbance form time to time. Secondly, ask them why they haven't followed the Patil twin's reasons for being in different houses. Now…:

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted aloud, causing the Gryffindor table to explode with cheers, whistles and claps as Harry took off the hat and made his way to sit beside Parvati.

The bragging and questions were brought up short as McGonagall fixed the table with a glare before continuing with the sorting, and within a matter of minutes Harry was joined by Dean Thomas and, unfortunately, Ron Weasley.

Unfortunate, because Ron sat down beside Harry and basically tried to make himself Harry's friend, despite Harry's repeated requests for Ron to leave him alone. He was thankfully silenced when Dumbledore stood up and began his announcements.

"Firstly, I would like to inform the first years that the Forbidden Forest is named so for a reason. Something I believe some of the older students need an occasional reminder of." Here he paused to look at the Weasley twins. "Secondly, Mr Filch has posted an updated list of banned objects outside his office for you to read. Thirdly, Quidditch trials will be held during the second week as posted by the team captains in your common rooms. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death. With all that out of the way, tuck in."

Harry, along with several older students, had become worried at Dumbledore's final point, before most were distracted by the sudden appearance of food up and down the table. Putting his worries to the back of his mind to dwell on later, Harry joined his new housemates in sampling the vast multitude of food in front of him, listening into their stories of home, be they wizarding homes or muggle ones. He did have a brief chuckle when he heard Hermione talking about lessons with one of the prefects, and a brief moment wondering why she wasn't in Ravenclaw with her attitude, before looking around the Great Hall, looking at whatever took his fancy as he ate.

After the dinner and desert dishes had disappeared, Harry and the other first year Gryffindor's followed after a prefect, who'd introduced himself as Percy Weasley, out of the Great Hall and up numerous flights of stairs, past paintings and suits of armor, before they arrived in front of a picture.

"This is that Fat Lady." Percy said, gesturing to the painting who gave a bow at her introduction. "She serves as a guardian to the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. The current password is Corpus Draconus. "

At the password, the Fat Lady's portrait swung open to reveal a doorway size opening that, when entered, led into a fairly large room filled with chairs, tables and a fireplace set into the wall.

"Now, boys dormitory is up the left staircase, while girls, yours is up the right one." Percy explained. "Now, each house has a teacher who is in charge of it. Ours is Professor McGonagall, so if you need to talk to a teacher, she is the best place to start. Now, off to bed all of you, you'll get your timetables in the morning at breakfast."

With that, Percy corralled the first years into their dormitories. Finding his trunk waiting for him at the foot of a bed, Harry was more than happy to change out of his robes and climb into bed before any of his fellow first years could delay him with inevitable questions.

: So, Gryffindor then. : Shasaya said as Harry lay in bed. : And that Sorting Hat basically encouraged you to go and prank the school! Now, you just have to spend some time to look around the school so we can find somewhere so I can teach you practical stuff. :

: Yep. : Harry replied. : I'll do my best to look around when I have free time. :

Yawning, Harry rolled over and prepared for sleep.

: And don't go looking into whatever Dumbledore is hiding in that corridor. : Shasaya commanded sternly.

: I won't! : Harry replied. : I have no intention of getting myself killed. :

In a matter of moments, Harry was fast asleep, looking forwards to his first lessons the next day.

* * *

The next morning saw Harry waking up early, a routine that had started years before with the Dursley's expecting him to have made them breakfast before Vernon would leave for work in the morning. Looking around the dormitory, Harry found himself the only one awake.

Getting dressed and grabbing his books for his classes that day, Harry headed out of the dormitory and then out of Gryffindor Tower and into the main portion of the school. Finding his way down to the Great Hall was easy, though he was surprised to see students from all four houses already eating, though the piles of scrolls next to them lead him to believe they were either getting a large head start on studying or rushing through a number of assignments from their holidays.

Stopping only long enough to eat breakfast, Harry was up and about again, investigating the castle so he could find somewhere to practice his psychic abilities and also trying to determine where his different classes would take place. It took him next to no time to find his first class room for the day, Transfiguration, and he had wandered past the Charms room half an hour later before there was a ringing from an old fashioned bell, like one would find in a bell tower, which signalled for students to go to their first class.

Quickly backtracking to the Transfiguration room, Harry found the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw first years beginning to arrive and line up outside the classroom to wait for McGonagall to arrive, before they noticed a note on the door notifying them to wait inside. Walking in and sitting down at a desk alongside Parvati and Padma, Harry's eyes were drawn, like every other students, to the cat that was perched atop McGonagall's desk at the front of the room. It didn't take long for most of the class to arrive, through Ron arrived just before the lesson was set to begin.

As everyone looked around the room, the cat suddenly stood up and jumped off the desk, transforming into McGonagall in mid-air. Landing gracefully and calming walking up to stand just in before the front row of desks.

"Welcome to your first Transfiguration class. I will warn you now and you won't receive another. Any students fooling around in my class will be asked to leave and will not be invited back." McGonagall said firmly, sweeping her gaze across the class. "Transfiguration can be extremely dangerous if not done properly, and I will not have foolish students endangering the rest of the class. Now, I will give you a few demonstrations of what you can accomplish with Transfiguration, beyond the Animagus transformation you saw just before."

Turning to face her desk, McGonagall waved her wand, causing it to turn into a large pig that trotted a short circuit out the front before changing back into a desk. Her demonstration continued to captivate her audience as a number of objects at the front of the class shifted form, some forming into animals, others into other inanimate objects. Turning back to the class, her demonstration ended, the classroom looked exactly the same as when they had walked in.

"Now, almost all of what you saw will be out of reach until you sixth or seventh year in this course. The Animagus transformation is considered a Masters level application, so will be even further down the line for you." McGonagall said, seeing many of the excited faces falling slightly. "For now, we will cover the general theory behind Transfiguration and we will move onto the specific theory for some basic spells before we get into practical lessons."

Harry was enthralled by the display, and while the theory they began to learn wasn't quite as exciting, it was interesting and Harry found himself enjoying his lesson. McGonagall continued to instruct the class in the basic theory for Transfiguration before the lesson came to an end and they were dismissed.

"That will be all for today. I will see you again on Thursday, by which I expect you to have read the first chapter in your text books." McGonagall said as they packed up.

Harry grinned as he walked out, listening to Hermione rapidly chat away with a number of Ravenclaw students about the lesson as well as Ron, Seamus and Dean moaning to each other about the same topic. Checking his timetable, he lead Parvati and Neville off towards Charms.

* * *

**A/N: Hello all! It's been awhile since I last updated hasn't it? Well, sorry about that. University and family came together to eat up a lot of my time and I struggled to write this chapter in the time I found to work on it. I think I rewrote the sorting and scenes immediately after it around a dozen times, though I did sit down and do my best to plan out the major ideas/event of each book. Hopefully this, and the time I have before university goes back, will allow me to get out another chapter or two soon, but it could be a lot longer.**

**Onwards to the next chapter!**


	7. First Week and Exploration

**A/N: Sorry for the long delay, uni and family stuff has taken up a fair bit of my time, as has a large lack of internet. I managed to find my copy of The Philosopher's Stone about halfway through this chapter, so I should be able to speed up my writing on the next one a bit. I also had a little trouble trying to do a first impression of the Hogwarts lessons, which was probably the biggest challenge for this chapter, so I may go into very little detail from here on in.**

**Quick point here that some people may have noticed to the last chapter: Owl Mail, I'm doing it a little differently. Instead of the mail arriving in the middle of breakfast, it arrives throughout the day at either the Owlery for school owls or a student's dormitories if it's a personal/non-school owl. I'm doing this for two reasons. 1) Breakfast is something that the students eat before class, but many would get in early and go off to study/do homework, especially later in the year, so they would miss the mail. 2) Owl mail during breakfast in the Great Hall kind of draws everyone's attention away from their food/conversations. So, I decided to change it.**

**Disclaimer:** The characters and world of Harry Potter belong to J. K. Rowling, and the Eldar and the 40k universe belong to Games Workshop. I am neither.

**Chapter 7: First Week and Exploration!**

* * *

Charms followed a similar vein to Transfiguration, with Professor Flitwick taking a short fall from the lectern when he got to Harry's name, much to the amusement of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students that made up the class. Once he had recovered, he launched into a brief overview of what was possible with Charms and the handful of spells that they would be learning that year before starting them on theory. When they left for lunch at the end of the lesson, Flitwick showed them the wand movements for the Hovering Charm.

The Gryffindor's and Hufflepuff's broke up into small groups that either headed directly towards the Great Hall to eat or going to their dormitories first to get ready for the afternoon class and check their mail. While Harry had spent Charms with Susan and Parvati, both chose to go straight to lunch, and Harry headed back to the common room alone. Walking past a group of older students, Harry overheard the Weasley twins sharing the results of the exploration of the third floor corridor.

"-ound that the door at the end is locked." Fred was saying, students from Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff surrounding him and his brother.

"And we were going to try and open it up," George continued. "But there's something on the other side that was growling, pretty loudly too."

"Fred and I may enjoy exploring, and the odd prank or two." Fred said, drawing a few chuckles. "Though going through that door has, at least for the moment, been put on hold."

Both Fred and George nodded solemnly to each other at this, before the group around them started whispering to each other what they thought was beyond the door. Just as he walked past, Harry saw Fred look at him, before nudging his brother.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen," He said, giving a dramatic bow, mirrored by George. "As we have delivered this most intriguing news to you, I'm afraid we must be off. Things to do, pranks to plan."

Their piece said, the twins broke off from the group and made their way towards Harry.

"Fred, George." Harry said in greetings, nodding to each of them when he said their names, giving a small grin when they both narrowed their eyes at him.

"How." "Did." "You." "Know." "Which." "Of." "Us." "Is." "Which?" They said, alternating each word between them.

"That would be telling." Harry replied, before thinking of the Sorting Hat's request. "And why did the two of you pass up the best pranking opportunity there is?"

"Best pranking opportunity?" Fred asked, sharing a glance with his brother. "Why do you think we passed one up?"

"Well, your both in the same house." Harry replied, starting to climb a staircase, before elaborating at their questioning looks. "The Patil twins thought it would be funny to go into two different houses and swap whenever they felt like it. I was wondering why you two didn't do the same?"

"Oh, that would have been fun." George replied. "But our family has always been in Gryffindor, plus we have more time where we can plot out our pranks."

"And we both take different electives and swap them when we feel like it anyway." Fred added with a grin.

Nodding, Harry asked about the Sorting Hat's other request. "You two ever need a third hand?"

"Well, we already have our friend Lee." Fred said, while both twins gave Harry a once over. "Though more help means more pranks."

Fred and George shared a glance, broke out in grins and turned back to Harry.

"Tell you what, if we have an idea that you can help out with, we'll let you know so you can help out." George announced. "Just keep this to yourself, yeah?"

Harry nodded, a happy, satisfied grin on his face as Fred and George turned to go down to the Great Hall.

The rest of his trip to the Gryffindor common room was uneventful and Harry swiftly grabbed his text book for Defence Against the Dark Arts before checking to see if he had any mail. He was pleasantly surprised to find he had a letter sitting there for him, though seeing the Gringotts seal on the front reminded him that Balgook had promised to find the manuscript for Sirius Black's trial for him.

Sitting down and opening the envelope, Harry frowned when he realised that there was only a single piece of parchment instead of a stack that should been there instead making up the manuscript. Unfolding the parchment, Harry frowned as he read it.

_GRINGOTTS: WIZARDING BANK, LONDON BRANCH_

_POTTER ACCOUNT MANAGER BALGOOK_

_Dear Mr Potter,_

_Following your visit and your request on the 26th July, I have done my best to follow up and get the manuscript you asked for. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find it, despite exhausting all available sources. Myself, and those who have been looking into this have come to the belief that no trial was held._

_Should you wish for us to follow up on this... irregularity, please send a response by owl at your earliest convenience._

_May your gold flow freely, Balgook._

: Mum, the Goblin's haven't been able to find a manuscript for Sirius Black's trial. : Harry said, scowling as he re-read the letter. : They seem to think that he may not have even had a trial in the first place. They are offering to follow up on this for me. :

: Hmm, that's very worrying. : Shasaya said. : It's probably worth having them look into it for you. Who knows what they will find for you. :

: Ok, I'll write a response to Balgook then. : Harry replied, pulling parchment, quill and ink out and wrote a quick response.

_Dear Balgook,_

_I am disappointed to hear that you were unable to find a manuscript, and I am worried that your theory may be true. As it stands, I would like to take up your offer to investigate further into this._

_May your enemies fall before you, Harry Potter._

Folding up the paper and putting it into an envelope, Harry quickly found Hedwig and sent her off with his letter. Packing away the quill and ink, Harry set off for the Great Hall for lunch.

* * *

Harry's first Defence Against the Dark Arts Lesson wasn't quite as good as his previous two lessons, and nowhere near as good as he was hoping for. His introduction to the class was very vague, and Harry found that it was almost word for word from the text book they had been prescribed. Not only that, but Harry had a sense that Quirrell seemed afraid of his subject, or at least some portion of it. Add to that that the few times that anyone asked a question about his experiences, a number of the older students having mentioned that he spent a year abroad, he rapidly changed the topic.

Having spent a rather boring lesson in Defence, Harry joined the rest of the Gryffindor's as they scattered themselves about the common room, most settling down to do the days homework. Harry was pleased to discover that he was able to finish quickly, and went off exploring the castle, though he was unable to find any of the secret passageways or hidden rooms that _Hogwarts, A History_ had mentioned, much to his disappointment.

He did, however, find a number of classrooms that appeared to be completely unused and met Shasaya's standards of size, as well as a few other factors that she had asked about, though Harry wasn't quite sure why she wanted differing amounts of different objects, be the difference in weight or in size.

Remembering how to get to the various rooms Shasaya deemed 'acceptable', Harry resumed his exploration of the castle, before eventually heading for the Great Hall for dinner.

* * *

The next morning, Harry joined the rest of Gryffindor house as everyone scrambled to leave the common room for breakfast. Despite his idle wandering of the school the day before, Harry's mind was still stuck on the disappointment that had been Defence Against the Dark Arts, and he was hoping that the mornings Herbology lesson would be much better. As he sat down for breakfast, it seemed that the other first years all shared his opinion on Defence Against the Dark Arts, and none of them were looking forwards to the second lesson scheduled for later in the day, though Parvati passed on that Ravenclaw had enjoyed Herbology the day before, which lifted everyone's mood immediately.

Breakfast was mostly quiet, barring a brief bout of laughter at a number of students across the Hall suddenly having their robes change colours on them, and leaving the Great Hall with his classmates in much better spirits, Harry made his way to Herbology.

* * *

Unfortunately, this good cheer didn't last. While Herbology turned out to be better than expected, sharing the class with Slytherin saw Harry forced to share the class with Malfoy and his lumbering minions.

After Harry had tricked Malfoy on the train, Malfoy had set out to antagonise Harry at every opportunity. While they couldn't do much under Professor Sprout's watchful gaze, Malfoy and his goons did their best to annoy or sabotage Harry all through the lesson.

The rest of the day went quickly, Defence was still boring and Charms were still interesting.

Dinner found Harry sitting between Neville and Parvati, listening to Hermione who was across from him excitedly chattering about their lessons, when Dumbledore called for quiet.

"It has come to my attention that a number of students have been poking about on the third floor. This will be the final warning to the school; do not continue to do so. Thank you."

Sitting back down as the food appeared, conversations across the hall inevitably turned to what was in the corridor, with most people repeating what little the Weasley twins had shared the day before.

"I am curious about what's there." Hermione said, drawing a few looks from the nearby Gryffindor's. "But with the way Dumbledore's talking about it, I don't want to try and find out."

Hermione's statement was met with murmurs of agreement from most of the table before everyone turned their attention to food.

* * *

The rest of the week went by quickly. History of Magic, while sounding promising, was horribly dull. Binns kept droning on about the Goblin Rebellions for the whole double session, ignoring or unable to hear what few questions were asked. And Astronomy was interesting, but the midnight classes saw the entire class struggling to stay awake.

So, Friday morning saw Harry leaving the Great Hall with Hermione, Neville and Parvati as they made their way down into the dungeons for their first Potions lesson. Sitting down and getting out their textbooks while they waited for the teacher, Harry was surprised not to hear Malfoy's voice saying anything to him, despite sitting at the desk behind him.

It quickly became apparent why as the teacher threw open the door and stalked up to the front and started calling the roll. He paused when he got to Harry's name, looking up at him as he read it.

Brushing aside the strange look he was getting, Harry waited to see if Potions would live up to his expectations, or if it would be as disappointing as History of Magic and Defence.

"I am Professor Snape. I am here to teach you the subtle science and exact art of potion making." He began quietly, his voice somehow carrying to the entire, suddenly silent, room. "As there is little foolish wand waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly shimmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through humans veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Here Snape stopped and scanned his eyes across the room, taking in each student as they suddenly straightened in their seats. Nodding to himself, Snape snapped his gaze back to Harry.

"Potter," He began, taking a brief pause. "Where would you look if I asked you to find a bezoar?"

Momentarily blinking at the sudden question, it took Harry a second to remember what he had read in this textbook.

"A goat's stomach, sir." Harry said with as much confidence as he could muster.

Snape raised an eyebrow at his answer before nodding.

"Correct. And what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"I'm not sure sir." Harry said, racking his brain. "I can only remember something about sleep."

"I'm surprised you know that much." Snape replied. "It would make a potion known as the Draught of Living Death, and is one of the more powerful sleeping potions you will hear of. It is also not done in practical work until your sixth year due to the complexities involved."

Sweeping his gaze across the class, Snape's lip curled into a sneer.

"Well, why aren't you all taking this down?" He asked, before gesturing to the board with his wand, the recipe for a potion appearing on the board. "When you've done that, follow the instructions on the board. If done right, it should be able to remove boils when applied."

With a sudden burst of activity, the class rushed to get started on the potion, each cauldron being looked after by two students.

Harry gathered up the ingredients for himself and Parvati as they started work on the potion, Parvati copying down the recipe as he did so.

The rest of the lesson was spent carefully following the recipe Snape had put up, with Snape himself moving about the room, criticizing just about everyone he came across, pausing his trail of negativity to praise Malfoy for 'Not being a dunderhead' and later, for a perfect stewing of his horned slugs.

Almost immediately after praising Malfoy for his slugs, Ron and Seamus's cauldron started hissing and belching smoke, causing Snape to spin and snap his wand to their cauldron, draining the contents immediately.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, for adding the wrong ingredients." Snape said, fixing the two boys with a glare. "I have no clue why you decided that crushed snake fangs meant paper bark shavings, but I will insist that you read the recipe correctly next time."

Holding his glare on them for a few more seconds before he swept it across the room, Snape addressed the class.

"It should come as no surprise to you that Potions, much like the other classes here, has the potential to cause yourself and your classmates harm." Snape said, briefly gesturing to Ron and Seamus before continuing. "Today's example would have seen the potion spray out of the cauldron, and the paper bark would have inverted this particular potion's effects, leading to boils springing up on those hit by it. Those who have finished may leave after leaving a flask of your potion with your name and your partners name on it. Everyone else may do the same once they have finished."

Walking back to the front of the class, shooing Ron and Seamus away as he did, Snape sat at his desk and watched the rest of the class like a hawk, accepting potions as they were handed to him.

Harry and Parvati quickly finished up and headed off to Defence , Harry being happy to see that Potions would be a good lesson.

* * *

**A/N: *gasps* Snape being reasonable! What is this!?  
I was originally going to have Snape act a lot more like in cannon, but not only is this his first mention in the story, but he's going to find it harder to hate Harry for two interconnected reasons.**

**He doesn't look as much like his dad as he does in cannon.**

**His hair colour is a much brighter shade of red, but it is still the same colour as Lily's, and Snape can't help but connect the two.**

**For Snape's introduction, his opening speech is almost word for word from the book because Harry hasn't done much to change it and it still fits for my version of Snape. His questions to Harry were more him trying to see if Harry was going to be any good at potions like Lily was.**

**Anyway, finally got around to finishing this chapter off, with any luck the next one will be much faster, but we shall see. **

**Next Time: Duel, Flying and (hopefully) psyker stuff.**


End file.
